


Shake the Heavens

by Aly_H



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst at times, Dragon Mates, Eventual Relationships, Friends to Lovers, Healing, I really hate making tags, Inappropriate Usage of Magic, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Smut, adding tags as I go, divergance from cannon after GMG/Eclipse arc, fluffs at times
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:17:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8392267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aly_H/pseuds/Aly_H
Summary: The changes to Sabertooth following the Grand Magic Games allow for the deepening of relationships between its members. Not that the deepening of bonds always goes very smoothly...----Sorta suck as synopsis, so basically: Rogue and Sting have been in love with each other for forever but only now can finally act on it because of how their lives are changing.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hullo!  
> I don't really know how long this fic will be, or how long I'll take to write it. (College consumes most my time.) I really hope ya'll enjoy it. I go through erratic spurts of writing/not writing, and considering that I should space the chapters out on a schedule but I like to publish soon as I can.  
> Grammatical errors will be corrected as I find them.
> 
> Any warnings will be added to chapter notes however I will note that I do eventually intend on including sex and I don't plan on denoting which chapters it'll happen in so if that's not what you're looking for, sorry!
> 
> ON HIATUS/ABANDONED (See end notes for explanation)

“White Dragon Roar!”

The blast barely missed as he dodged it – he’d known that Sting had been feeling frustrated and cooped up with his new found duties, and a mountain of apology letters thanks to an incident involving Orga and one of Fairy Tail’s teams. What Rogue hadn’t expected was that the pent up energy versus his own self – which could definitely use some rest after the last solo job he’d just completed – would make such a difference. He hadn’t felt that tired when he agreed to this.

Yukino had suggested that he take Sting out and spar with him, work off some of the energy that the new Master had been using to drive everyone up a wall anytime that Rogue left him alone for too long. Even Lector was having a hard time directing Sting’s attentions where they needed to be.

Not that Rogue blamed the other half of the twin dragons – he was certain that he’d go stir crazy trapped handling all the paperwork that had come with the transition of power and fixing Sabertooth into the guild that Sting had envisioned for them during the Grand Magic Games.

“Damn,” he swore as he landed from his jump – off balance and in an instant he felt the impact of Sting’s fist and went down with his partner pinning him to the ground.

The blond panted softly as he grinned down at Rogue, perched on his chest with Rogue’s hands trapped under his legs so that he couldn’t escape easily, “I win.”

“Yeah. Can you get off now?”

Sting tilted his head to one side, blue eyes studying Rogue intently as he stayed quiet and still for longer than was typical of the White Dragon Slayer for as long as they’d known one another. He caught the way that his shadowy counterpart’s gaze slid to the side, and the faint pink color building in Rogue’s cheeks all the way to the tips of his ears.

He looked rather… _cute_.

On impulse he leaned down and pressed his lips against Rogue’s, kissing him softly as the other young man made a soft noise in surprise. A moment later Rogue had melted into shadows and shot off across the ground while Sting’s lips hit the dirt.

Groaning he rolled onto his back, looking at the sky.

 _This_ had been easier before the Games. When the Guild was still maintaining its boundaries with one another and the fear of Master Jiemma had kept him from acting on _that_ particular urge. Letting his blond head bang softly against the earth beneath it he sighed deeply.

Rogue wasn’t his to try to claim, and he knew that the Shadow Dragon Slayer wouldn’t want someone as annoyingly loud and rash as he was as his mate. If the other Dragon Slayers were anything to go by Rogue would want someone tiny and cute…though the Lightning Dragon Slayer’s mate wasn’t exactly _tiny_ unless you were talking comparatively. He wasn’t sure he’d call the green haired mage cute either – though he was certainly more attractive than some other destruction causing greenettes he knew.

Natsu’s woman was supposed to be heavier than she looked too, but she was still cute. And Celestial and fire magic weren’t exactly polar opposites of one another the way that shadow magic and white magic were.

With another bitter sigh he sat up and hauled himself to his feet. He needed to find Rogue and apologize. If he played it off as a joke it wouldn’t ruin their friendship, right?

 

* * *

 

 

Rogue was already half-way back to the Guild Hall by the time he realized what he’d done. His heart was beating a little too fast still as he emerged out of the shadows and leaned himself against a wall to catch his breath.

Sting had kissed him.

Sting. Kissed. Him.

WHAT?!

Being a Guild wizard meant accepting that sometimes the impossible really does happen. Of the impossible things he had to accept this last year he was fairly certain Sting _kissing_ him ranked as less believable than his future-self traveling back seven years in order to bring an army of dragons from 400 years in the past in order to take over the world.

Granted, he definitely knew which one he preferred. Sting’s lips were softer than he’d thought they’d be.

He closed his eyes and banged his head back against the bricks. What kind of idiot was he? He’d been hoping for Sting to take notice of him for _years_ now and the first sign that maybe his affections were returned he panics and runs away?

Sting was going to _kill_ him.

Unless it was a joke…but….he wasn’t the type to joke around about that was he?

Maybe if he got back to the Guild Hall fast enough he could take Frosch and be out on a job before Sting managed to get back and address what had happened. If he could escape quick enough he could avoid having to address what a coward he was…for a little while anyways.

Maybe long enough for the blond haired slayer to forget what had happened?


	2. Chapter 2

Sabertooth’s Guild Master was obviously in a bad mood as he stalked into the Guild Hall. Not for the first time within recent weeks reminding his members of the foul tempered reptiles they’d dealt with in Crocus. Not that it took a genius to guess that the source of the temper had something to do with the absentee dragon slayer.

There was a soft laugh across the hall and one of Lector’s customary declarations of Sabertooth’s strength before a higher pitched voice chirped: “Fro thinks so too!”

Blue eyes locked on the trio across the room. White haired Yukino Agria was sitting at one of the tables laughing while Lector beamed and continued to talk. What caught his attention though was the green cat in the pink frog costume.

If Frosch was back then-!

“I remember seeing Rogue entering his room just now,” the silky voice belonged to Rufus who’d approached while Sting was scowling at the room. Still unnoticed by the trio he was watching. The blond haired mage had one of his hands up to grasp the brim of that obnoxious feathered hat he wore and his customary smirk he wore whenever he knew more about something than someone else did.

He was never sure if he wanted to punch Rufus when he smirked like that or not. Right now though he had a different fish to fry.

He turned on his heel and marched up the stairs to where the guild member housing was – plenty of people lived in the apartments that made up the guild’s upper floor. He’d opened them up to members once he’d become the Master.

He and Rogue both had rooms up here. Across the hall from one another in fact.

Rogue’s smell had always been something special. Alluring, but not necessarily sweet the way that some girl’s was. It was something unique to the Shadow Dragon Slayer that had always made him feel calm. Or well…most the time made him feel calmer. Now it only served to irritate him by reminding him that Rogue had taken off for two weeks on a job after running away from the kiss.

He tried not to be too angry as he threw the door open to Rogue’s bedroom. He knew that if he knocked there’d be no answer – Rogue might even go as far as slipping out the window in his shadow form to avoid running into Sting.

“You’re back,” he tried to say it friendly like but instead it came out as a low rumble.

Rogue – for his part – stared at him, his visible left eye going wide in surprise. He’d not been paying attention and hadn’t noticed Sting in the hallway before the door opened. His gaze moved away from his friend’s face guiltily. “Yeah.”

He was only half-dressed, still wearing his pants, but he’d been trying to redo a series of bandages on his torso.

“What happened?” Sting demanded, stepping over – his anger and frustration forgotten for the moment at the sight of his partner hurt.

He shook his head – not about to tell Sting that while he’d been trying to figure out what to say when he got back that he’d fallen into a trap that he should’ve seen a mile away, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“Let me help,” Sting huffed, taking the bandages away from Rogue and beginning to apply them properly, working in relative silence.

“….sorry,” Rogue murmured at last. “For running away. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” Sting shook his head and grinned at him, trying to play it off. Rogue didn’t need to be worrying about this right now, especially after a long mission. It could wait. “I mean, I shouldn’t have kissed you but it’s not like it meant anything.”

The shadow mage frowned – it was a quick expression, there and then gone again. Hidden behind the mask that Rogue tried to tuck all his emotions behind, the one that only Frosch always saw through.

“Sorry, was that too tight?” Sting glanced up into his face – the grimace of pain, the slight clenching of Rogue’s fist. He thought maybe he’d pulled the bandage wrong as he finished his work.

“The bandages are fine. I just want some sleep,” he knew his tone was too sharp, he knew there was no hiding the subtle difference between this one and his usual one from Sting. Dragon Slayer hearing could make life very difficult sometimes, particularly when it was on someone _else_.

The look on Sting’s face said that he’d caught the difference too and didn’t know why Rogue was angry. Still, he left his friend alone, heading back down the stairs into the main area of the hall.

He sat down at a table on his lonesome and pretended not to notice Orga fork over a bag of jewel to Rufus knowing that their bet doubtlessly had something to do with him and Rogue. He didn’t know why the Lightning God Slayer even made bets with Rufus, everyone else in the guild had learned not to take the red clad bard up on any bets.

 

* * *

 

 

He’d been on his way to the job request board when Yukino stepped into his pathway. He moved to step around her and she stepped right back into it, unusually confrontational for the Celestial mage.

Rogue hesitated before he looked down at her, debating doing the best impression of Gajeel from the Phantom Lord days he could but deciding not to. Last time he’d done it Sting had gotten angry at him for trying to scare the other members of the guild….besides everyone had seen him fuss over Frosch one too many times to believe that particular act.

“Can I help you?”

“Did you and Sting-sama get in a fight?”

“…” he eyed her. “He’s really making life miserable for everyone with his sulking then?”

“Will you please talk to him? Work out whatever it is that’s wrong, please,” she smiled to him. Yukino had a calming effect to her, something about her presence made everyone in the Guild behave a little better when she had her attention on them.

Rogue closed his eyes and nodded. “He’s in his room still?”

She nodded. “Let him know I did most his paperwork, he just has to sign the letters, okay?”

“That should cheer him up a little,” he nodded, before glancing around. “Frosch?”

“Lector took him to the market for a little while. I’ll keep an eye on him when they come back, don’t worry.”

Rogue nodded slightly before turning back and heading up the stairs he’d just descended. He was a little more worried about dealing with the irate white dragon slayer than he was about Frosch getting into trouble for once.

Unlike a certain blond Dragon Slayer he didn’t believe in just throwing the doors to someone’s bedroom open and so he knocked and waited. Listening to the sound of blankets shifting and Sting’s footsteps though they paused just outside the door as the other dragon slayer must’ve caught his smell.

He’d always found Sting’s scent impossible to ignore, something alluring and rich with undertones which reminded him a little of chocolate.

After what seemed like forever Sting opened the door, yawning widely into one hand with only one of his blue eyes open as if he’d just woken up. He was too alert for that – Sting didn’t wake up quickly. Had he actually been asleep Rogue would’ve had to break into the room in order to get his attention.

He had been in bed – he was shirtless and dressed in rumpled plaid pajama pants with his blond hair more of a mess than usual.

“Yuki’s worried, huh?” he asked. “Who broke what town this time?”

“Nothing new actually. She’s worried about yo-us. She thinks we’re fighting.”

“Hrmph. You actually have to _talk_ to me for that to happen,” Sting muttered. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I didn’t want to see you,” was the reply as he stepped into the bedroom, pushing past Sting. “We’re troubling our comrades now though, I think we should talk.”

“What’s there to talk about? I kissed you and it weirded you out so you’ve been avoiding me.”

“It didn’t!” he snapped, shadows flaring around him as he felt his hold on his temper begin to loosen. “I wasn’t weirded out by it…I was afraid you didn’t mean anything by it and you _didn’t_.”

Taking note that the door was still wide open he used one of those shadows to slam it shut – if it wasn’t closed they’d have guild members lurking in the stair well trying to listen for the voices carrying from this discussion.

Sting blinked at him widely. “What about Yuki?”

“What about Yukino?” What did she even have to do with this conversation, had Sting hit his head at some point? He wasn’t the most graceful but he usually was pretty durable even if their tussles could get a little out of hand…

“You were so upset about her at the Games I thought for sure…and you’re close aren’t you?”

_Oh….so that’s what it was._

Stealing his courage Rogue stepped over to the other man and kissed him. “There’s no reason for you to be jealous of her, idiot.”

Blue eyes blinked then a grin eerily similar to the one that Sting wore when getting ready to pick a fight crossed his face and he leaned down kissing Rogue back, a hand on his hips pulling him closer and the other wrapping itself into Rogue’s black hair. This wasn’t like the other two kisses which had been shy and fleeting.

He might’ve gone further but Rogue hissed in pain – one of the injuries left over from his last mission pulling.

“Sorry,” he pulled back from the kiss to look at him. A big grin forming on his face. “I love you, Rogue.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be warned for there be lemons in this chapter!  
> Some bondage and rather inappropriate usage of magic.
> 
> First time publishing a scene like this so sorry if things are awkward.

“Will you relax?” Sting asked, tucking his hands behind his head as he watched the other dragon slayer practically glare at the sky. Already they’d seen the flashes of lightning and the low rumble of thunder was occasionally rolling through the woods they were making their way through.

Rogue flashed him an annoyed look – Sting was being _much_ too carefree on this job. He, for one, did not want to end up getting soaked compliments a thunderstorm. He hated being cold, and wet plus storm usually ended up equaling that. Not that being soaked thanks to rain was a particularly pleasant feeling.

It _had_ been nice fighting together again even if the job was a fairly standard monster hunt. Yukino had taken pity and – alongside Rufus – had promised to handle Sting’s paperwork while the Twin Dragon Slayers got to work. For some reason they both had insisted that their exceed companions stay at Sabertooth while the slayers took the job though.

“Don’t give me that look,” he grinned. “Rufus told me about an inn around here, I’m sure we’ll get there before the rain starts.”

The inn really did exist.

They did _not_ get there before the rain started.

In fact they got there well after the rain had started and were entirely soaked by the time they arrived, putting one Rogue Cheney in a very bad mood as he stood behind Sting arms crossed and exuding shadowy tendrils around himself and earning more than a few worried glances both from the inn’s proprietor and a few of the patrons that were around.

“We can have food brought up to your room?” the woman asked hesitantly, speaking to Sting though her gaze was on the sulking dragon behind him.

After a backwards glance Sting nodded, putting on his biggest, friendliest grin to compensate for the other Sabertooth mage, “Sounds good.”

He sometimes forgot that though Rogue tended to be the more considerate of the two of them the Shadow dragon was also the one more prone to bad moods and disinclined to deal with people. He was pretty sure that Rogue was making everyone in the inn nervous – better get him upstairs and keep him away from everyone until he wasn’t haloed by his magic and looking a bit like an avatar of doom – a very handsome, if drenched, avatar of doom at least.

It didn’t take them long to get upstairs.

“Just one bed?” Rogue asked quietly as he observed the room. This particular observation had served to distract him from his annoyance regarding the rain.

Sting was already stripping off his wet clothes and exchanging them for a pair of dry pajama pants. “They didn’t have anything else left – plus it’s a big bed, we’ll both fit. No problem.”

So no ulterior motives there…Rogue wasn’t entirely sure if he was relieved or disappointed about that as he started to change into dry clothes. At least the rain hadn’t soaked through their bags so these were still dry.

Sting was in one of his multiple pairs of plaid fleece pants – he had a large number in multiple colors - and, as typical, no shirt. Not that that was a surprise – Rogue had decided some time before that the White Dragon Slayer was morally opposed to hiding those abs of his.

For his part Rogue was dressed in the kimono he used for nightwear.

“Here,” Sting was saying before something white and fluffy descended into his field of vision. It took him a second to realize that the other was drying his hair for him, surprisingly gentle considering Sting’s usual nature.

As he finished Rogue looked up to murmur “Thanks.”

Sting grinned and pecked him lightly on the lips, “No problem. What’s with that look? You’re my boyfriend – I’m allowed to kiss you now.”

For his part Rogue’s cheeks had gained a soft pink color, “…sorry, it’s still a surprise sometimes.”

A sudden knock at the door made them _both_ jump. Neither had been paying any attention to anything besides one another and hadn’t heard the staff arrive with the promised food. Sting went to answer the door and get the meal while Rogue took a seat at the edge of the bed barely resisting wrapping himself up in the covers, instead taking a moment to put his now damp instead of dripping hair up in a short pony tail.

Even though he was now dry he didn’t quite feel warm enough yet and it was very tempting to cocoon himself into the blankets.

“Here, these look delicious,” Sting beamed as he carried over two bowls of stew, handing one to Rogue before sitting down next to him – and on top of the blankets to prevent any cocooning. He knew once Rogue got himself wrapped up into a blanket on a day like this one there’d be no dislodging him and there was a reason he’d chosen the room with one bed rather than the twin beds.

At Sabertooth things always got in the way – work, the Exceeds, work, Rogue’s habit of running away when he got shy. He knew better than to risk getting punched by telling Rogue the truth about the room, and if he’d been too busy sulking to notice that Sting had lied regarding room availability then he certainly wasn’t going to be the one to point it out.

As adorable as Rogue’s blanket nests were to watch it would get in the way. First though: food. They both were hungry and they’d been walking all day.

Like the other dragon slayers – not to mention most young men their age – both had healthy appetites and practically inhaled their meals. It’d been too long since breakfast and they’d not stopped for lunch that day.

After eating Rogue stood and stretched, meaning to take a shower before going to sleep. Sting’s hand shot out and grabbed him by the wrist though, pulling him back onto the bed where he fell unceremoniously with a surprised yelp – not of pain just that he’d not been expecting it so some noise had to be made.

Sting leaned over and kissed him lovingly, his hand pushing the kimono out of the way to rest on Rogue’s chest as he did so. Pulling back from the kiss to whisper:

“White Dragon’s Claw.”

“Sting!” Rogue’s eyes widened in surprise as the stigma glowed faintly on his chest. Sting hadn’t used a lot of power in placing it but he didn’t _need_ a lot for Rogue. His magic had a natural advantage over Rogue’s, and there was nothing that Rogue could do to remove the mark on his own.

“You keep running from me,” the blond slayer looked down, wearing one of his smug grins. “Now you can’t get away.” He leaned down pressing his lips to the other man’s neck, before whispering, “I’ll stop if you want me to, Rogue.”

The Shadow Dragon meanwhile had gone a shade to rival Rufus’s outlandishly bright coat, trying to decide what it was he wanted. He knew from the way that his heart beat seemed to have picked up this was the point in things he’d previously turned into a shadow and escaped. He’d done it after their first kiss, and then twice more since they’d begun dating.

It was embarrassing.

Not as embarrassing as the noise he made as he felt Sting’s lips sucking on his skin though.

Blue eyes lifted up to peer into red ones, a kind of predatory glint to them mixed in with the happiness. He’d finally caught his mate, he’d stop himself if Rogue asked but he had no intention of stopping for any other reason, and he knew even if asked it wouldn’t be easy to stop now that he’d inhaled the other’s scent so deeply.

He leaned down, kissing his skin more, sucking on his neck and chest as he listened to the noises Rogue made as he trailed his gentle marks across his skin. At one point he nipped him, his sharp dragon canine’s drawing a bit of blood.

The black haired man moaned louder than before as the sensation sent a pleasant shock through him.

Sting stared down at him, mouth twitching a bit in a grin as he tried not to laugh, he’d not meant to do it as hard as he had and had been going to apologize when he realized that Rogue had _liked_ it. So maybe being bound and teased was more of his boyfriend’s thing than Sting had guessed.

“Why’re you laughing?” Rogue asked, narrowing his eyes on Sting as he tried to even out his breathing.

“Just thinking how adorable you are,” he replied, leaning up to peck Sting on the nose innocently. “I love you so much.”

“Shuddup,” he mumbled, blushing deeper as he turned his eyes away before muttering, “I love you too.”

“I know,” was the reply as the blond head disappeared from his sight again. The next indication of what he was doing was the tug of the belt at his waist coming undone and the touch of the bedroom’s air against his skin as Sting undid the kimono.

Sting’s hand slipped inside Rogue’s boxers, his fingers shyly moving along the other’s length to elicit a soft groan as he moved his lips down to a yet unmarked part of the other’s chest, nipping a little as he sucked.

As he listened to Rogue’s voice and felt his body shiver beneath his lips he grinned, glad that he’d gone through with the plan he’d come up with while checking them into the hotel. Just hearing his boyfriend’s needy sounds was enough to make the revenge that would undoubtedly come later worthwhile.

“S-sting!” there was a moan as Rogue went over the edge.

He pulled his hand out and casually wiped it off on his pants, looking down at his boyfriend – messy haired, panting with the after effects of his orgasm and spotted with his marks all across his chest. He couldn’t help falling even more in love with Rogue as he undid the glowing stigma that had held the shadow dragon slayer in place.

He leaned down and kissed him passionately – he couldn’t help it – and was pleasantly surprised with Rogue pulling him down into the kiss to make it more forceful now that he had use of his limbs again.

When they rolled so that Sting was on the bottom the dark haired slayer broke the kiss off, his hand sliding down Sting’s chest before finding his waistband.

“Can I take these off?” he asked.

“Sure,” Sting grinned, curious as to where Rogue wanted to take this – he didn’t think that his boyfriend would be up for anything else so he’d planned on getting himself off soon as he was sure that he could let Rogue on his own for the time that would take.

He wasn’t particularly embarrassed at being naked in front of Rogue – they’d seen one another before – but the intensity with which those red eyes were observing him was new and made the blond blush darkly.

“Don’t move,” he ordered Sting. “If you do I won’t be happy with you.”

What kind of threat was _that?_ Still he chuckled and nodded, “I won’t move, promise.”

He regretted making that promise as Rogue shifted, and he watched the dark hair block his view of his lap. He swallowed hard in anticipation – he hadn’t expected Rogue to do that.

He let out a soft sound as he felt the other’s lips, kissing shyly as he explored the shaft with both them and his tongue. Letting his head tilt back as he braced himself on the bed, his fingers bunching in the blankets so he wouldn’t touch Rogue or try to move like he’d promised.

“Fffff….” he groaned as he felt the shadow slayer take him into his mouth, barely keeping his hips still. “Rogue.”

It wasn’t long before he was close – “Rogue, can I-“

A soft noise – half way between a moan and a ‘yeah’ was uttered from around his shaft and the vibration of it was the push that sent him over. Rogue swallowed as best he could, but was coughing and choking a little as he pulled off.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” Rogue coughed before giving a soft, wry smile, “I guess it looks easier on the Lacrima.”

Sting laughed, kissing his forehead before pulling him up and dragging him to the shower. He wanted to get that washed off his boyfriend’s face so he could kiss him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a very general idea of where I'm taking this but if ya'll have any ideas you guys want to suggest feel free to!
> 
> I hope ya'll enjoyed reading, please feel free to leave a comment! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so apparently I am incapable of writing fluff because this thing went off the angst deep end, so be warned.
> 
> If you read this and there isn't a trigger warning listed below that would help you PLEASE, PLEASE let me know.
> 
> Trigger warnings: discussion of abuse, violence, homophobia

Blue eyes traced over Rogue with open affection, he knew that his boyfriend’s attention was elsewhere entirely. Would be for most the day, it’d always been like that even under Jiemma’s reign. The time that Rogue set aside for Frosch wasn’t spent giving attention to anyone else – and he’d never been afraid to make sure that time existed even as he began to close himself off to the rest of the world.

The soft curve of Rogue’s smile as he crouched next to Frosch and listened to them as they pointed out this or that colored fish while pressing their nose against the glass.

It’d always been that warmth that made him want to draw nearer to the other slayer, though now he was sitting on a bench watching and wishing that Rogue’s cape thing wouldn’t hide so much of his form. He had a nice butt, damn it, he wanted to be able to admire it!

Lector, beside them, just laughed as he noticed Sting’s attention was definitely not on the fish. “I’m sure no one can resist you for long, Sting! Just give it another try!”

“Tha-hey!” he stared at the exceed. “What do you mean _resist?_ He didn’t turn me down!”

“Yeah, of course,” Lector nodded, blithely ignoring the correction as if he’d not just hinted that he believed Rogue had turned him down at some point. “No one could resist your charms, Sting!”

Then again his boyfriend was at the aquarium on a date with a cat and not him, so maybe the evidence of his superior charm abilities wasn’t quite as obvious as he thought. Plus Rogue had instigating a brawl when he’d tried to brag about what had happened at the inn so it wasn’t like anyone else besides the pair of them knew how far things had gone.

He turned his eyes back to where Rogue was laughing about something, the Exceed held close as they walked on to another tank.

“I think it’s nice that you’re finally open about being in love with him,” Lector decided to comment. “Let me know if you ever need Frosch distracted, kay?”

“Just don’t lose him this time, I don’t need Rogue going psycho in the middle of a date,” he beamed at his oldest friend – Lector really was awesome.

Suddenly a feminine voice caught his attention – a group of girls had taken notice of Rogue. “Oh, wow, is that-?”

“He’s with Sabertooth right?” the second of the trio asked while the third nodded: “Yup, Rogue. He’s one of the Twin Dragon Slayers.”

“Do you think he’s here on a date?”

No, Sting answered mentally with a slightly bitter note. At least not with his _boyfriend_.

“Who cares?” the second gave a shrug. “Sting’s the good looking one.”

“Hmm…I’d tend to agree,” the first giggled, “but look at that smile he’s got. The way he’s looking after that frog-uh-cat? is _so_ adorable.”

Well she wasn’t _wrong_ but he was the only one supposed to notice that! Damn it, what was with Rogue making faces like that where everyone else could see them? Stupid shadow dragon didn’t even realize how ridiculously handsome he was.

“I know, right?” the third nodded brightly. “Rogue’s always been my favorite, so dark and mysterious but just looking at him now…I think I’ve fallen for him even more. Imagine how cute a father he’d be?”

Sting shoved his hands in his pockets, sulking a bit – he was behind the group so they’d not seen him.

“Oh, wow, he’s coming towards us!” hissed one of the girls suddenly, apparently not aware that dragon slayer senses meant that he could hear the whisper as clearly as the commentary before.

Instead of going to the group Rogue had walked over to Sting, and leaning up he pecked him on the lips, “Stop looking like that. You’re scaring Frosch.” He ordered gently before using his free hand to take Sting’s and pull him towards the glass to look at the fish with him and the little green Exceed, Lector trailing behind after sending the trio of admiring girls a smug smirk.

 

* * *

 

 

It was well past midnight when he heard the door of his room open quietly, still groggy but grinning slightly as he recognized the scent of the intruder, sitting up with a yawn.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” Rogue was dressed lightly in his kimono-like pajamas again as he sat on the edge of Sting’s bed. “Do you mind if I sleep here tonight?”

“You know I don’t,” he laughed, pulling Rogue into the bed and wrapping him up under the covers before planting a kiss on him – a little more awake than he should be given that he’d only gotten to sleep maybe two hours before.

Even in the darkness he knew that Rogue’s cheeks would’ve gone pink and he’d be refusing to make eye contact in that infuriating cute manner he got when he was feeling a little shy.

Still he snuggled up with his shadow dragon in his arms, pulled tight to his chest and nestling his chin in the crook of Rogue’s neck – more than happy just to breathe in his scent for the night. He heard his mate breathe a sigh of relief and relax against him.

“Something wrong?”

“I dreamt about before – with Jiemma…you know, when he found out about me.”

“About you-? Oh…” he hugged Rogue closer to him – trying to reassure his mate that he was safe and everything was okay.

“Kissing you at the aquarium made me think about what happened before,” there was a sad sort of laugh, “I’d only gone out with him twice, you know? I was trying to forget that you were always at my side, I didn’t think you’d be interested in anything but my strength.”

He wasn’t wrong – at the time despite noticing how pleasant the other dragon slayer smelled Sting _hadn’t_ wanted anything to do with any attachments. He’d not even been willing to allow Rogue to act as his partner in fights at the time, viewing him as a rival rather than an equal. It’d been ordered that they work together though so the two spent a lot of time in close proximity while either arguing or just avoiding each other as much as possible.

“I hated feeling how I did about you – I thought maybe if I found someone else that I’d stop noticing you so much,” Rogue’s quiet voice had continued. He’d never told _anyone_ this part of the story. Never told anyone the story at all.

Sabertooth knew it – it was why Sting had never dared let his feelings show and even Rufus reined in his flirtatious nature, although Rufus could still pay attention to half of those he was interested in. Sting had no idea if anyone else in the guild had an interest in the same sex as themselves. Even under the new Master there’d been some hesitation about being open until they realized that their Master was head-over-heels for a man, so they’d probably be fine as long as their affections weren’t for Rogue.

“Are you sure you want to talk about this,” he began to shift, but Rogue’s hands on his arms, wrapped tight kept him in place, the smell of salt touching the air. Rogue was crying.

“Please.”

He pulled tightened his hold on Rogue and stopped trying to see his face, wanting him to be comfortable as he nodded to show he was listening. Angry at himself – at what Sabertooth used to be – at everything that had made his strong Rogue’s voice tremble with fear.

“I don’t think I loved him, but he made me smile when we were together, and it was fun,” the dark haired man said quietly. “It wouldn’t have lasted long anyways – I was too in love with you even back then for things to stay good with anyone else. I didn’t hide it because I wasn’t ashamed. Skiadrum always said the only thing that mattered with picking a mate was that we both wanted it.”

There was a shiver – fear, not cold - that went through Rogue as his mind turned towards what happened next.

“I didn’t know why Jiemma was angry when I was called to step forward that day,” he said quietly – Sting could remember the distinctly confused expression he’d worn as he did as told. Lector had held onto Frosch to keep the little pink-clad cat from following Rogue. No one had expected what had happened next, except maybe Minerva.

She had to have known since she had the boyfriend imprisoned in her dimensional magic. He’d been turned loose to go back to Blue Pegasus – terrified and warned never to come near a member of Sabertooth again but otherwise unharmed.

Jiemma had ordered Rogue to renounce the relationship in front of the guild – which he had done, his mask hadn’t been mastered at that point. Rogue’s emotions were still written clearly on his face back then – and the pain that was there wasn’t a memory pleasant for Sting. It’d been to secure the other boy’s safe passage out of the situation – no one had any misconceptions about what Minerva would do if Rogue disobeyed at that point.

The other boy might’ve gotten out of it relatively unharmed except for a fright. Rogue wasn’t so lucky.

Jiemma had beaten him nearly to death in front of everyone. In the bastard’s eyes Rogue had brought shame to the Sabertooth name and the punishment was deserved.

“It was the first time you ever looked sick because of violence,” Rogue’s voice drew Sting out of the memories as he finally spoke again. “I remember seeing the look on your face when it was happening, just after I came back from blacking out the first time. Orga was holding you back because you looked ready to kill. I was terrified that someone would try to interfere and end up getting hurt too.”

“I hate myself that I didn’t protect you then. I should’ve done more then, maybe this guild wouldn’t have been so bad then.” He wasn’t sure he could’ve escaped Orga’s bruising grip on his arms though – he’d taken a step to move forward but the Thunder God Slayer had stopped him. Rufus had taken Frosch up in his arms, Sting remembered, and he was certain that was the only time he’d seen tears in the bard’s eyes as he held the cat and kept them quiet so not to remind Jiemma that something so close to Rogue and so fragile was close at hand.

When it was over no one was making a sound, even their sadistic Lady looked a little ill at the savagery that her father had inflicted on the now unmoving dragon slayer. Sting remembered worrying – it hadn’t looked like Rogue was breathing.

“It’s not your fault,” he shook his head. “You saved me in the end.”

“What?” his brows came together.

“After that happened you never let me be on my own. You were there while I was healing even though I know you got in trouble for it, and after I could walk again you wouldn’t let me take any jobs on my own. You were always my light when the doubts and worries started.”

Sting’s arms pulled him tighter to him and he felt the damp on his mate’s cheeks. “We should’ve left then, escaped Jiemma and everything. Gone to another guild, you would’ve been able to be open about everything.”

He felt Rogue pull away, and then came closer, having turned around to face him, wrapping his arms around Sting as he pressed his face against his chest. “It’s not your fault. I’m okay with how things happened, Sting. As long as I had you and Frosch nothing else mattered to me.”

He held onto Rogue tight that night, not willing to let him go even long after he heard his boyfriend’s breathing shift into that of a relaxed sleep. Guilt still pricked at him as he wondered if taking up his place at Rogue’s side, trying to protect the shadow dragon, had really been enough to make up for doing nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Few comments I want to make:  
> I head cannon Rufus as bisexual and I don't particularly ship him with anyone. I think he has a rather had time finding people who are interesting enough to want a relationship with.  
> I don't know who the boyfriend from Blue Pegasus was, picked them because along with Fairy Tail, they seem the most likely to be open to LGBTQA+ people within their ranks. Consider them as an OC or suggest who you'd like and I'll consider bringing in that drama later on. ;)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and fluffy but I had fun writing this one. :)

Sting woke earlier than Rogue that morning – mostly because a chill had started up his back. Usually that wouldn’t have been a bother even refusing to sleep in a shirt as he did – usually he had a blanket draped over him.

This morning though the blankets on the bed had morphed a fat roll of a thing with a little bit of black hair tufting out the top of it.

Lector was curled up on the pillows at his back – he could hear the exceed’s snoring, while Frosch had joined them sometime – probably early in the morning to be sleeping on top of the Rogue-blanket-cocoon. He gave a soft laugh and slowly slipped out of bed, careful not to wake any of them as he ran a hand through his hair to make sure it wasn’t too big a mess before padding down the stairs towards the main guild hall.

He so rarely woke up before Rogue, he wanted to do something nice for him. Besides, it wasn’t as if the early morning people in the guild had never seen him in his fleece pajamas. Today’s pair was a rather subdued red plaid.

As it turned out without the strict training schedules that they’d been subjected to prior to the Games there weren’t many morning people in Sabertooth.

Ducking into the kitchen he was already halfway through making breakfast when someone else arrived. Two someone’s actually.

Orga was carrying a fish bowl that was dwarfed in his hands which he set gently on the counter, telling Rufus not to make his friends listen to that boring music of his again.

“I remember, I remember,” the bard was chuckling. “It is always the same melody when you leave them in my care. A little classical music is _not_ going to harm them, I promise.”

“Fine,” the much larger wizard conceded before hunching down to get eye level with the pair of fancy gold fish that occupied the bowl.

“What’s that all about?” Sting asked, poking his head out of the kitchen, a little surprised to see Orga’s face gain considerable color. “You have pet fish?”

There was a nod.

“He won them at one of those fair games they had in Crocus the last day we were there,” Rufus grinned. “You making breakfast for everyone or is this meal for dragons only?”

“Dragons and two exceeds only,” he grinned, ducking back to mind the food. It wouldn’t do to burn his attempt to treat his boyfriend just because he was distracted by the shock that their resident lightning mage had taken to keeping fish. Somehow that combination just didn’t seem like a good idea…still, he supposed if Rufus was willing to help that meant Orga was serious.

The two were friends, but Rufus never went out of his way to help when someone wasn’t serious about something. He complained about not having enough time to read – or flirt – as it was whenever someone asked him for a favor he couldn’t be bothered about. In all likelihood Rufus was part of the reason the fish were still alive anyways. Despite having an attitude chillier than Mount Hakobe, the red clad mage had always been there for his comrades.

He was listening to the two of them talk – or rather Rufus talk while Orga gave a handful of words in response as he finished cooking.

He hoped that Rufus would become friendlier as time went on, the icy walls and cruelty had started being put up after Rogue’s near-death at Jiemma’s hands. Rufus had been warmer before that, a little distant and odd but the way someone got when lost in his own thoughts rather than someone who had erected a sheet of ice between themselves and other people. Or tried to.

He honestly couldn’t say if Orga had changed much after the event. He and Minerva had seemed the least affected by it, though Minerva had always been difficult to read. Orga was just as quiet back then as he was now, but he had stopped trying to sing for them as often, so perhaps he had closed himself off too?

He left the two chatting with a simple ‘see you later’ as he carried the plates of food up the stairs.

Rogue was still wrapped up in the blankets so he set the plates on the table against the wall of the room and woke up Lector and Frosch and set them down to their breakfast first. They weren’t capable of punching his lights out with a dragon slayer iron fist if they woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

“Oh man, this looks yummy!” Lector grinned, beginning to eat the eggs and bacon in front of him while Frosch peeped up: “Fro thinks so too!”

Sting meanwhile sat on the bed beside his blanket bundled boyfriend and tickled the antennae of black hair sticking out of it, laughing as the bundle twitched and the hairs disappeared inside as Rogue wiggled himself into a new position where his hair couldn’t be played with.

Despite knowing it was probably a bad idea Sting grinned brightly and began to tickle the bundle where he knew Rogue’s side would be, grinning brightly as he was greeted with a series of giggles and pleas for him to stop while the bundle thrashed.

Eventually Rogue got his head and arms free and huffed at him, his hair a complete disaster and tears in his eyes from Sting’s tickling him too much. He looked like he’d been doing something a _lot_ less innocent than being victimized via tickle torture, and frankly Sting thought it was a good look on his boyfriend.

“Ass,” he grumbled.

“Blanket thief,” the blond smiled in reply before leaning over to kiss him, pinning him against the bed as he did so. He didn’t mind an audience for a kiss, particularly not since Lector had been one of the first people to know about his feelings for Rogue and would never judge.

With a smile he drew back, going over to the table and taking his seat while a bright red Rogue tried to remember what he was cross with Sting about as he extracted himself from the blankets. He joined them at the table, patting Frosch on the head with one of his gentle smiles as he did so.

Sting was just glad to see that last night’s nightmares hadn’t carried over into Rogue’s mood today and that he was his usual groggy just-woke-up self.

“Sorry about the blankets,” he commented about half way through, now that his food was mostly eaten and his brain starting to function like a human being again as he woke up. “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s okay, woke me up earlier and I got to see something really cute to start my day off: A Shadow Dragon Caterpillar. Though I think I liked it better when it morphed into my handsome boyfriend.”

“Sting’s feeling very flirty today,” Lector observed from his breakfast.

Frosch looked at their blushing dragon and then the grinning Sting before nodding solemnly, “Fro thinks so too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had a lot of time and focus for writing this weekend which is sorta unusual for me (I'm avoiding real life) which was why so much got done. Updates this quickly will be pretty rare.
> 
> Please let me know if ya'll have anything you'd want to see, or comments to make~ Kudos and comments literately make my day.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter's a little more chaotic than the other ones - I've been running a fever today and since I finished my essays (somehow) and really don't feel like sleeping anymore I wrote this up.

One look at Sting and he knew that the other dragon slayer was delighted about where they were. The Council had finally caught onto the fact that the youngest of the Guild Masters really had no idea what he was doing and now they were having him visit other guilds to see how they functioned.

He wasn’t entirely sure when they’d decided on this plan they’d taken in account that Fairy Tail _was_ another guild, and they probably didn’t want Sabertooth being influenced by them. Rogue was almost entirely certain that they’d meant a guild more like Lamia Scale or Blue Pegasus. (Sting had been surprisingly adamant about not going to Blue Pegasus for some reason.) So here they were, spending a week in Magnolia so Sting could see how Makarov ran the guild.

Granted the idea that Makarov actually ran his guild might be a little generous…

Originally Rogue had intended to stay at Sabertooth and help manage things in Sting’s absence but that morning he’d woken up on a train with his bag packed for a week and feeling quite nauseous as the world seemed to lurch and shake its way down the tracks.

It hadn’t taken the quietest of the Dragon Slayers long to realize that for all he respected – and even liked – Fairy Tail’s members this was _not_ the guild for him.

This idea had been thoroughly cemented when a barstool flew across the guild hall and right into his back, shoving him forward and knocking into Erza and causing her cake to fall to the floor. Sting jumped in to protect him from the scarlet haired woman’s wrath and he lost track of the course of events. At the moment he was fine staying seated against the bar as he watched the brawl, his head pounding from someone’s blow.

“Here,” a voice giggled above him, and he found Mira handing him down an ice pack. “That looked like it hurt.”

He recognized the eldest of the white haired Strauss siblings from her visits to Sabertooth to see how Yukino was settling in after she’d rejoined them. He suspected that if Mira hadn’t liked what she’d seen on her visits Sting would not have been Master long.

“Thanks,” he said, taking it and pressing it against the knot on his temple. “Is it really _always_ like this?”

“It’s so much fun, isn’t it?” she beamed at him.

Fairies were crazy. He didn’t know if it was seven years of suspended animation or if they were always that crazy. If he had to bet he’d put his money on ‘always’. Still he had to admit – a lot of those participating in the brawl – the ones still conscious – did seem to be enjoying themselves.

“Not my kind,” he said.

Frosch sat next to him, watching with wide, curious eyes. Lector had gone off to pester Carla – who was with Wendy in another pocket of peace at the other side of the guild hall. Sting was in the middle of things, looking to be on the losing side of a three-on-one fight against Erza.

“…she won’t kill him right?” he winced as Sting ended up K.O.’d on the ground. It was better than Natsu who was probably embedded in the wall he’d struck or Gray who avoided that fate only by crashing into the hulking Strauss brother…Elfy? Elfin?

“Probably not,” Mira giggled. She was a _very_ cheerful person.

With Erza’s victory things seemed to have stopped flying through the air so he levered himself to his feet and took a seat at the bar stool he’d previously been sitting beside, setting Frosch on the counter beside him. He kept his ice pack and resisted the urge to check on his mate.

For now the scarlet haired mage seemed to have forgotten that the _other_ Sabertooth dragon had been the one to run into her and he didn’t want to remind her by approaching.

Mira gave his little friend a fish – clearly used to Exceeds – before she leaned forward, a conspiratorial grin on her face. No one had warned Rogue about the woman’s penchant for gossip, nor her fascination with love. Yukino had thought it best _not_ to mention that Mira had come up with some crazy pairings for the Sabertooth members during her visit and seemed just as invested in the other guild’s gossip as that in her own guild.

“So, you and Sting?”

Blank stare…and then as the realization of what she was asking dawned on him, making his cheeks gain considerable color. He might’ve fled into the shadows to escape this conversation – he certainly would’ve, but one of the Fairy Tail dragons had sauntered over, placing a heavy hand on his shoulder.

Fleeing would be pointless when he knew Gajeel could snatch him out of the shadows. He didn’t _really_ remember what had happened during their fight the last day of the Grand Magic Games very well, but he remembered the bruises and he’d watched it on lacrima after the fact.

“Oooh, so you _are_ together, how cute,” Mira clapped her hands excitedly. “You two just look so good together, I’m so happy.”

His eyes widened a little as Wendy joined them, clearly curious about whatever it was that had Gajeel and Mira looking so amused.

“So Ryos, when you going to claim him back?”

“ _Rogue_.” He corrected before frowning. “What do you mean ‘claim’?”

Gajeel just sort of stared at him before groaning in frustration. “I’m gettin’ real tired of doing this dragon sex ed talk.”

He’d understood why Laxus hadn’t comprehended what was going on – it’d been extra amusing since Laxus hadn’t even admitted his feelings to himself properly yet when it started. He didn’t understand why the other dragon slayers who’d been raised by dragons didn’t know how things worked. Was Metalicana _really_ the only one of the stupid flying reptiles to think about it?

Then again Wendy, Sting and Rogue had all been a lot younger than he and Salamander were, he was a few years older than Salamander was too. Wendy was still a little young for the talk in his opinion but he hadn’t wanted to risk waiting given how many bad influences were in Fairy Tail, not to mention boys had been noticing how cute the thirteen year old was. He’d sat her down for it the same time he’d sat the pink haired idiot down.

“I ain’t doing this more than I have to. I’ll tell ya later, when the other one’s awake,” he rumbled before grabbing one of the forks from behind the counter and walking away chewing on it as Mira called after him about not eating the silverware.

He just wanted to find Levy and watch her read for a while and not feel like he had four younger siblings – at least half of whom were idiots – to worry over. Ryos was a good kid all told, he liked him, and Wendy was a darling. Those two he didn’t mind. Sting and Natsu? Not so much.

 

* * *

 

 

Between the morning’s train ride and spending the day in Fairy Tail’s guild hall both the Twin Dragons were exhausted when they carried their already asleep Exceeds into the door of the hotel suite they’d gotten. Two rooms – both Rogue and Sting had wanted to be able to get a little privacy from their cats.

Tonight though all four of them simply curled up on the bed – Rogue vaguely sparing a thought for how he’d manage to survive six more days in that mad house. At least he’d get to learn more about dragon slayer magic since Gajeel had promised to talk to them the next day.

He fell asleep almost as soon as he was under the blankets, Frosch in his arms and his back pressed close against Sting’s side. He didn’t know despite how tired he was that Sting stayed up for a while longer, simply stroking his boyfriend’s hair and watching him, before laying down with one arm draped over the other dragon slayer.

For once he dreamt about something other than food or Rogue or fighting. (Three of his favorite things, in no particular order.)

Weisslogia and the scary looking black dragon were talking a little ways away – they were trying to figure out what do about the little human boy who was sleeping in the nest of blankets and pillows nearby, shivering.

Sting glanced over at them but they were too far away for him to hear and his dad had told him to behave while he and the other dragon talked, and not bother the other human.

He turned his eyes back to the other boy who was still sleeping fitfully. The black haired boy had a fever – according to his Dad the other boy’s body was rejecting the magic that he was learning. He’d tossed the blankets off again in his sleep and Sting clicked his tongue. That was no good.

The blond went over, forcefully rolling the other boy up in the blankets so he couldn’t escape them again. “There. You gotta stay wrapped up in the blankets if you want to stay warm,” he chided the boy – unaware that red eyes had opened to peer up at him.

“’Kay.”

“…how come you don’t wanna learn the magic?” he asked, tilting his head curiously – he hadn’t woken the boy up on purpose, and it’d been for a good cause, he surely wouldn’t get in trouble.

“I don’t mean to but…I’m scared of it.”

“It’s not scary though,” confusion showed in his eyes, why would he be scared of magic? That was silly. “I think it’s pretty cool. Dad showed me how to make stuff go BOOM with my white dragon roar the other day, it’s really awesome! I’ll show you, okay?”

There was a faint smile and the other boy nodded, “I’d like that.”

“Oh, my name’s-“

“STING. I told you to let him rest,” Weisslogia and the other dragon were paying attention to them again.

“But, I was just-!”

“He needs to sleep,” the white dragon narrowed his eyes on his son who eventually dropped his eyes and mumbled an ‘okay’.

“Next time will you show me your cool magic?” the sick boy asked, realizing that the white dragon and the other boy were leaving.

Sting smiled brightly and nodded, “Uh-huh. You bet!” With that he ran over to his father, pestering him with questions as to when they could come back and visit again.

It was such an old memory, he’d almost forgotten it...sitting up from his dream he looked over at his boyfriend whose blanket cocoon was starting to wrap around him. He gave _his_ half of the blankets a bit of a tug to free them from the wrap before smiling down at Rogue.

He hadn’t really thought of the black haired boy he’d met with the black dragon in a very long time – it hadn’t occurred to him until waking up just then that the little boy he’d only met the once with his father had been Rogue. Then again, he tended not to let his thoughts linger too much on his life with the dragons.

A part of him wondered if Rogue remembered meeting him back then, but he couldn’t ask. If that was Skiadrum he didn’t want to remind his mate of painful memories.

“Go back to sleep and stop playing with my hair,” Rogue muttered, feeling Sting’s fingers in his hair again. As pleasant as the sensation was he didn’t appreciate being woken up for it.

With a laugh Sting disentangled his boyfriend from the roll of blankets so he could lay beneath them with him and cuddle close. “Goodnight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, couple of announcements:  
> \- As I'm not overly fond of the Tartaros arc and after I've decided not to use it and instead diverge from canon.
> 
> \- Originally this was going to develop into a fic with an ot3 (Sting, Rogue, and Yukino) but I've decided while I still want to write that eventually I'm just going to focus on developing the relationship between Sting and Rogue then write a second fic later on where it becomes the trio if I'm still interested in doing that once I finish writing this.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, this one's short and a little dry, sorry! Next one will be longer.

The crunch of metal between teeth was making Sting visibly wince as he watched Gajeel chewing on the pieces of iron. He couldn’t help but be a _little_ jealous of the availability of the dragon slayer’s element although it was still less common than something like air, or fire, or even shadows. Holy light magic wasn’t that common and people weren’t okay with you chomping on holy artifacts.

Rogue seemed to be waiting patiently for the older dragon slayer to speak, but he had that distant look to his eyes that said he was letting this thoughts wander in too many circles to be healthy for him. He’d always been a bit like that.

Leaning over Sting kissed him softly on the lips, before pulling back and observing the crimson blush rise in Rogue’s cheeks as he scowled at him a bit.

“Back with us?” he asked, leaning his elbow on the table and propping his hand up as he watched Rogue though he could see Gajeel across the table clearly in the corner of his eye too.

“I was just thinking,” he muttered. Trying to get his brain to stop wondering at the sweet taste that was on Sting’s lips – he must’ve eaten some sort of pastry or candy while he wasn’t watching him since lunch for them to taste like that. Not very successfully.

“Maybe, but I wanted to make you think about me,” he grinned unabashedly, laughing a little as Rogue muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

Gajeel watched them and let out a soft ‘Gihi’ watching them. Levy and her damn romances must be getting to him because watching them he couldn’t help feeling a little relieved that the little brat he remembered had found someone who so clearly loved him. How Mira had been the only one to see it at the Games was beyond him – and had lost him the chance to boss Erza around.

“That’s enough of that, you two are gonna make me sick,” he informed them, frowning like he always did. “Now, what do you actually know ‘bout dragon mates?”

Sting huffed, his flirting interrupted and gave a shrug – not answering. Rogue looked down, “Skiadrum only told me that both people had to choose it.”

“So basically nothin’,” Gajeel scowled – not at the information ion particular but more because he _always_ scowled or smirked.

He glanced over as Levy sat down next to him, a big book written in one of her dead languages set before her as she observed them. She’d done her own research into all of this.

He was only half tempted to make fun of her that the topic had come under her interest _before_ Tenrou Island and he hadn’t made any moves towards a relationship until _after_. He didn’t want her claiming that it had to do with Salamander and the bunny girl – a perfectly reasonable excuse, but something he felt like would be a lie – if he did bring it up.

Rogue shifted slightly, observing the woman curiously while Sting’s smile remained in place it wasn’t quite as open as before. Sting studied the tiny woman whom he’d seen at the ball in Crocus – she was Gajeel’s mate alright. He couldn’t be certain – he hadn’t known the woman prior to being chosen as a mate – but he thought he could smell a touch of iron off her. It was a faint undertone to the variety of other smells on her, somehow simultaneously stronger and more subtle than the smell of ink and paper on her.

“The Shrimp’s read up a bunch on this stuff, so she’s gonna cover anything I miss,” the iron dragon slayer said, running a hand through his mane as he tried to figure out where to start. Unlike the other two he’d had this conversation with they didn’t need the birds-and-bees talk.

He’d been certain Salamander was too dense to know and Wendy was too innocent to have had it yet so he’d wanted to get _that_ taken care of too. He _really_ didn’t want tiny blond Natsu’s running around the guild hall any time soon, or ever really. Wendy was smart but he wanted to make sure she had the information she needed to protect herself well before she needed it. Not that he intended on ever letting that girl date.

“What you said about both choosing it’s mostly true. Thing is that the magic will mark someone as a mate all on its own – it’s not something that’s actually a choice, but if ya both feel for one another and want t’ be together the link’s made.”

“As long as the magic things you’re both old enough,” Levy commented. “Immature dragons – and dragon slayers – don’t form the links even though they can start falling in love before that happens. Since the only functional purpose of this magic is, uh…” she blushed a bit. “Well, you two don’t have to worry about it, basically it’s something Lu-chan and I can do but you can’t.”

“Huh?” Sting blinked. “I don’t get it, what can you and blondie do tha-ow!” Rogue had jabbed him in the side.

“Babies. We can’t get pregnant,” he raised a brow at the white dragon slayer.

“The mark also tells others with enhanced senses to stay away,” Gajeel added, trying to prevent the lover boys from getting into a brawl since Sting looked like he wanted revenge. “What I don’t get is why Sting’s got you all marked up, Ryos but he ain’t got your mark. Unless…”

“Wait, Rogue’s got my mark?” Sting asked curiously, looking over at his boyfriend who seemed to be scowling at Gajeel at the moment. “How come I can’t smell it?”

“Well, since it’s basically a magic perfume of _your_ scent, you wouldn’t be able to. You’re too used to the smell from having it on you all day. Others with magically enhanced noses can smell it but you won’t notice it,” Levy explained, grimacing a bit at the ‘others’, she could’ve done without a parfum obsessed troll making a comment.

Gajeel meanwhile was fixing the other black haired, red eyed dragon slayer with a hard stare. “Still?”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he frowned, meeting the other’s eyes unflinchingly. So either a flat out lie or the absolute truth and the kid was feeling angry at the suggestion.

“Alright. More than likely it’s just cus his magic’s making it hard for the mark to stick,” Gajeel leaned back and gave a plausible explanation for why Sting didn’t have the same sort of mark that Rogue was already carrying. “Give it time.”

“Oh,” Levy looked at them, as if remembering something. “Even though dragon slayers aren’t really aware of the mark, I think it has something to do with why they get so possessive and protective of their mates when things are still new. Be careful for a little while, okay? You might end up getting jealous more easily than before until you’re used to what happened.”

Gajeel snorted, “Don’t need another town blown up because someone got a bit jealous – it gives the rest of us a bad name.”

“Natsu?” Sting wrapped an arm around Rogue, curious about what Gajeel meant and recognizing that if he interrupted Rogue’s thinking this time he’d probably end up with a pissed off shadow dragon slayer rather than his adorable boyfriend.

“ _Gihi_ , Laxus actually. You’re payin’ for half of the damage, I’d think you knew about it,” Gajeel smirked.

“Wait, that’s what the thing with Orga was about? So Rufus really _did_ start it,” his eyes widened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be posting up the next chapter later today or tomorrow since I'm nearly finished with it. Just gotta finish adding the lemon to it. ;)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemons in this chapter, and some drinking.
> 
> I need much practice at writing sex and so that part of this chapter may read a bit awkwardly, sorry about that.

“Hey, dark and gloomy,” the brunette sauntered – or maybe staggered – over and sat at the table with him.

Red eyes transferred from where he was watching Frosch and Lector with the Exceed who accompanied Gajeel – Pantherlily – to the woman who smelled, frankly, like a distillery. “Can I help you?”

Rogue was trying to remember her name – she was the one whose magic power had shattered the device from the Games, outstripping even a wizard saint – and at least triple the power of his guild mate.

“I was going to offer to tell your love fortune, but I don’t think you’re looking for anyone now, huh?” she beamed, “So have a drink with me?”

He eyed her suspiciously, trying to compose a gentle way to turn the woman’s interest down. Though it seemed odd that she’d not be aware of things with him and Sting – the white dragon had been stealing enough kisses to make it very clear that the Twin Dragons were an item.

“Don’t worry, you ain’t _wild_ enough for me,” she grinned then frowned as what she just said was processed by her alcohol impeded brain. “Damn it, starting to talk like those idiots. _Anyways_ , you gonna drink with me or not, Shadow-boy?”

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough already?” he asked, relaxing as he realized that she had selected him simply because he was an easy target to pester and wasn’t looking for anything from him.

“Nah, and you ain’t had enough,” she smirked. “You been over here brooding since your pretty boyfriend got distracted, you wanna talk?”

“I hope you won’t take offense when I say ‘no’,” he replied evenly, his guard going up a bit at the woman’s words. He had been brooding but almost no one but Sting had ever been able to tell the difference between him being broody and just thinking. He didn’t like how perceptive this boozer was.

She smirked and shoved the extra mug she’d brought over to him. “Have a drink. You’ll feel better.”

“I don-“

“You too scared?” she challenged. “The Shadow Dragon of Sabertooth too chicken to drink with me? Bet you can’t even hold your alcohol.”

So, Sting might’ve been the flashier of the Twin Dragons, he might’ve been the more pain in the ass of them. He was also the louder one. Unfortunately for Rogue in this instance ‘pride’ was something that they _both_ had a bit of a problem with.

Cana’s goading worked, despite the words of caution thrown to him by her guild mates.

“Hey, man,” it was Gray who found Sting in the archives, looking over the records that Mira was in charge of keeping for Makarov. She’d been showing him their (frankly nonsensical) filing system. “Your boyfriend’s upstairs stripping.”

“What?” he stared – his ears were good but he couldn’t have just heard that. Surely the man who was standing at the top of the stairs into the archive room in just his skivvies was kidding…right?

Gray glanced behind his back and grimaced. “He got into a drinking contest with Cana, I think Laxus is trying to talk him into settling down bu…” he grimaced at the loud noise and then the thunder clap that followed it. “Yup, no, your boyfriend’s fried.”

Sting was already darting up the stairs and past Gray and across the Hall to where he’d left the other dragon slayer.

Fairy Tail’s resident drunk – Cana – was laughing her ass off at the table nearest to where Rogue was. Laxus was grimacing as he handed a half empty mug off to his minion who wore the weird mask, who was cracking up too.

Rogue was sitting on the floor, completely unharmed and looking a little surprised at the spot of smoking wood where he had been standing. Even _he_ was a little surprised to have dodged the lightning bolt.

He’d lost his cape and the gray shirt he wore beneath it, and was blinking up at Sting as he came over. “Look it, I’m faster than lightning,” he beamed.

“Uh-huh, course you are,” Sting snorted, dragging his partner’s drunk ass off the ground, hoping that Laxus wouldn’t decide to attack again. He could see that Rogue had been the first to throw magic around, so the other dragon slayer would be justified with blasting his boyfriend.

Rogue didn’t seem interested in Laxus anymore, as it was, instead leaning his head against Sting’s shoulder as he threw his arms around him.

“Oh damn, look at those hickeys,” the masked mage seemed to be leaning forward to peer at Rogue – eliciting a low dragon like rumble from Sting in warning. “I hope that’s not like a dragon thing, cus I don’t think I’m cool with you doing that to Freed, man.”

“ _Bickslow_.”

Apparently the name uttered in that particular tone from Laxus was enough to make the mage shut up, but one of his creepy floating dolls peeped up with “Sting bites!” to which another chirped “Sting _sadist_.” The simplest looking one then inquired “Laxus too?” earning itself a glare – and hiding behind Bickslow’s head.

The black clad mage was grinning like an idiot but shooed the little dolls into leaving ahead of him – over to where the rest of the Thunder Legion was sitting. They were going to pester their captain.

 “You should probably get him home,” Laxus commented to Sting, his arms crossed but seeming uninterested in continuing the fight.

“Yeah, probably,” he said, eying his boyfriend who was swaying even with most of his weight supported on him.  With a sigh he moved and picked him up in his arms. “Where are Frosch and Lector?”

“I’ll look after them tonight,” a black exceed had flown over – Gajeel’s partner, he thought – “Just worry about him.”

He nodded gratefully since Rogue’s lips had found his neck and he had to bounce him a bit to stop whatever he was doing. Time to get this one home, preferably before he decided to drunkenly shadow himself places and he had to spend the rest of the night chasing after his mate.

“Sting?” Rogue asked, shivering as he carried him through the streets, and pulling closer to his boyfriend, face burrowing into his chest. He was missing most of what he usually wore so he was noticing the night air.

“Hmm?”

“Am I strong enough to stand with you now?”

“You always have been, idiot.”

There was a long moment of silence before a muttered: “You’re an idiot.”

“Yeah, well, I love you too,” he laughed.

Luckily for Sting it seemed that Rogue was content to cuddle against his chest for the rest of the trip to the hotel room and not cause any more trouble. He was pretty sure that he’d dozed off at some point during the walk but he was awake again when Sting was setting him down onto the bed and working the other man’s shoes off.

“You want to wear your pajamas tonight?” Sting asked him, getting the complicated pant-like-things that Rogue wore off him next.

When there was no answer he looked to his boyfriend, and found him biting his lip slightly – red eyes intense as they observed him. He was about to ask what was wrong when Rogue reached over and grabbed hold of Sting’s halter top and dragged him close, kissing him.

“I don’t want to wear _anything_ tonight,” the answer came against his lips as Rogue’s fingers started to pull off his jacket.

Sting smirked and complied with Rogue’s efforts to get him undressed before he pushed his boyfriend down onto the bed and held him pinned there firmly.

“So, how much of the drunk is an act?” he asked, blue eyes trailing over his beloved. Rogue drank rarely, was a mess whilst drunk but soon as you got him into bed – or just under a blanket – he rolled himself up and fell asleep.

Rogue flushed, “Sobered up when I realized I probably shouldn’t have thrown my magic at Laxus the way I did when he pulled me off the table.” Well, that explained why Rogue managed to dodge the lightning after all.

“Oh, so all that drunk cuddling was faked?” Sting asked, smirking, “You don’t have to pretend to be drunk to touch me, you know?”

“It’s nice to have an excuse not to remember when they ask about it tomorrow,” Rogue flushed – he was usually far more reserved. “You’re not angry are you?”

“Nope – I think it’s adorable,” Sting grinned. “Even though thanks to you Fairy Tail thinks we’re into S&M.” Rogue snorted – not going to point out to Sting that he first time they’d done anything he couldn’t move because someone had bound him with their magic.

“Oh hush,” Sting muttered, before starting to kiss Rogue again, one of his hands traveling down his side, just enjoying the sensation of the other’s skin beneath his hand. He paused and observed Rogue through blue eyes, “I want to go all the way tonight…is that okay?”

There’s a second of surprise on Rogue’s face – they’d been together long enough, done enough things, but Sting hadn’t shown an interest in _that_ before. Still he nodded, “With you – always.”

That’s all the invitation that Sting needed to start moving again, leaning down his dragon-like fangs grazed Rogue’s throat in the way that he knew drove the dark haired slayer crazy beginning to add a mark on his love where his clothes wouldn’t be able to hide it easily.

He felt Rogue’s hands on his stomach and chest as his own hand finds and teases one of Rogue’s nipples – the shadow slayer was much more sensitive to such treatment than he was, and they both knew Rogue’s fingers trailing over his abs were more for Rogue’s enjoyment than Sting’s.

He could hear the noises caught in Rogue’s throat as the other dragon slayer tried not to make noise, his lips trailing further down until he found one of the other man’s nipples with them, teasing it and nipping while he moved his thigh teasingly between Rogue’s legs.

“Sting,” the noise that he’d been looking for finally came, breaking the flood gate. Sting smirked and let his hand go down to stroke his partner’s member with careful fingers – listening to the moans and gasps that his attention was causing.

Rogue’s hands pulled him up and they were kissing each other greedily as Sting kept his hand moving, swallowing the noises that the other was making until he knew he was almost ready to release. That’s when he moved his hand away, smirking into the kiss as Rogue gave a soft whimper.

Sting shifted, wanting to be able to pay closer attention to what he was doing now, as he sat himself between Rogue’s legs, setting one hand back on his member as he used the other to start teasing his entrance. His hand began to move slowly on his love as his fingers explored this new place – eyes intent on Rogue to make sure that nothing was unwelcome.

“Stinngh,” Rogue had begun to say his name, going to beg for more than the teasing when Sting’s tongue passed over the head of his member, causing the name to get strangled in the pleasured noise he made.

He moved his head down the hand not stroking the other’s member spreading his cheeks gently before he set his lips there, beginning to kiss and lick at the entrance, it needed to be a lot wetter. He could feel Rogue’s body tense at the unfamiliar sensations, and he began to move his hand again, this time bringing his love moaning to an orgasm.

Rogue panted as his body shivered – the shivery and sensitive feeling following his orgasm making his body adjust to Sting’s new found focus more easily. It was unfamiliar and a little uncomfortable to have that spot touched, let alone when Sting slipped two of his fingers inside, beginning to gently massage him.

It wasn’t really bad, and Sting was taking his time about this – something he hadn’t expected from his boyfriend. It didn’t take long for Rogue to be moaning under Sting’s administrations, and demanding more.

For his part just hearing his mate’s voice and the sounds that his fingers made inside him was enough to drive Sting’s control to the edge, he was barely controlling the part of him that wanted to take him then and there. If he did that though Rogue would hurt and that was the one thing he couldn’t allow. Not ever.

He’d decided that once he could make Rogue orgasm like this he’d take him, while his body was still relaxed from the afterglow it’d be easier. He kept moving his fingers, turning his head to catch Rogue’s thigh with his teeth and nip the sensitive skin gently.

From the moaned explicative that had done the trick and Sting grinned, shifting upwards to kiss Rogue lovingly. “I’m going to put it in now,” he whispered to the hazy eyed dragon beneath him. “Just tell me if it hurts too much okay?”

Rogue nodded vaguely but seemed more interested in pulling him back into their kiss than what had actually been said. Sting just grinned against it and positioned himself carefully so that he was against the other man’s entrance before he slid in as gently as he could.

There was a soft sound at his lips and he stopped – recognizing it wasn’t one of the pleasured noises he was used to his love making – “Rogue?”

“It’s fine,” he whispered softly, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend tight so Sting couldn’t change his mind for both of them. He wanted this as much as Sting did, he just needed to make sure his boyfriend didn’t stop it before his body adjusted to the sensation of having someone else inside it.

Sting slowly began to move, feeling Rogue tight around him was making it hard to focus and he moved his hand down to stroke the other’s member, teasingly and was rewarded with a low moan and Rogue moving himself down to push Sting a little deeper in.

With Rogue relaxing into the new sensations and starting to enjoy them Sting grinned, beginning to move a little more as his hand kept teasing his love’s member.

The sensation of nails digging into his back helped spur him forward as he moved, moaning Rogue’s name out into his ear and the dark colored hair as his boyfriend moaned and whimpered in pleasure while clinging to him.

When the sensations building up for Rogue finally toppled over the edge as he felt Sting reach his climax inside him, groaning out his name as he did so.

He blinked his eyes open to find Sting lying next to him, grinning like a cat that got a canary, as he stroked his hair gently. “You passed out for a bit there, you okay?”

He rolled over to his side to look at Sting, thoughtfully, and smiled a bit his body still full of those wonderful tingly feelings but tired, “Yeah, I feel fine.” He cuddled closer to Sting, “Can we nap a bit before we clean up?”

An arm wrapped around him and pulled him closer to Sting’s chest, “Sure.” Sting kissed the top of his head before adding: “I love you, Rogue.”

“I love you too, Sting,” he smiled before contentedly drifting off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope ya'll enjoyed! Let me know in comments what you thought, or if there's anything else you'd like to see.
> 
> Also, if you ever want to chat can find me at tumblr at:  
>  http://aly-the-writer.tumblr.com/
> 
> Cheers!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya.
> 
> So this chapter is where the actual plot is going to start gaining a foothold. I had a hard time writing it, and still am not completely satisfied with it but I don't think I could do any better with it. 
> 
> As always if there are any trigger warnings not listed below that would be beneficial to you as a reader PLEASE let me know.  
> TW: death, depression-like thought patterns hinted at

 “ _You will become king…” the dragon’s voice commanded, echoing around him. “Your heart is dyed in shadow,” his own voice told him. At his feet was a thing, white and blue and red. He could smell his mate but where was he?_

_No…this was no **thing**. _

_Pale blond hair and a tattered blue cropped jacket, and where his chest should be it was all red…his hands were wet and dripping with blood._

_A scream ripped from his throat, harsh and full of agony as the voices grew louder and multiplied, their voices becoming too numerous to be discerned from one another and the shadows pressing in around him._

_“This is our destiny.” “Your heart is full of darkness.” “You will destroy everyone you love.”_

 

Sting had been downstairs in the guild pub when he felt the massive wave of power – everyone in the guild felt Rogue’s magic even before the tendrils of shadow began to drift down the stairs and ooze through the ceiling.

He didn’t register Yukino’s gasp, or Rufus’s comment of having no memory of such a thing. He didn’t even hear someone shout at him to be careful as he shot up the stairs.

The pair of them had gotten home from their trip to Magnolia that day, their weeklong stay in the city of the Fairies finally complete they’d taken the train – eager to return home to their own comrades even with the promise of the motion sickness that journey would bring.

It wasn’t uncommon for Rogue to nap when he got home from a trip so after the initial welcome back and a small snack he’d excused himself to his bedroom. Sting hadn’t thought anything of it, insisting that Rogue kiss him before heading up but otherwise not giving him a hard time about being tired.

The sticking tendrils hadn’t been the easiest for him to get through, they’d lashed out at him with a power that didn’t quite feel like his partner’s magic. There was something darker and more malicious in it than Rogue’s ever had, this felt more like the magic that had clung to the dragons in Crocus during the Games.

“Rogue!” he shouted as he fended off another attack by the magic before throwing open the door to Rogue’s bedroom – he always slept here when on his own.

His eyes widened. The room was a mess – Rogue must’ve lashed out with magic in his sleep at whatever was attacking him, scoring the walls and breaking furniture. His mate’s attempts to fight back had subsided though as he was curled up in a tight ball on the bed, tears running down his cheeks from his still closed eyes and whimpering.

Above him stood a dark shadow, inky and black it had no real physical form and yet he could see that it was imitating Rogue’s shape. A crazed grin turned to look at him as it reached towards Rogue.

“Get away from him!” Sting growled as he shot forward, lashing out with his fist and magic. The shadow’s grin disappeared as white magic touched it and ripped it apart, the tendrils and black mists that had formed from Rogue’s magic disappearing at the same time.

A soft sob drew his attention back to his mate and away from the confusion as to who this unknown attacker was and the confusion of what had just occurred.

He sat beside Rogue, gently pulling him into his lap as he woke him up, “Rogue, c’mon, you’re safe now.”

He felt the body in his arms shiver and then Rogue was clutching the edges of his jacket, his face hidden against Sting’s chest as he cried softly.

“I-I’m sorry,” Rogue whispered, at last beginning to clutch back at his composure and drawing it around himself. He looked around the room and swallowed - his mind racing to put what happened together.

“Fro’s safe, they were downstairs. Yuki’s probably got them,” Sting said gently. “Someone was in here – I think they caused this.”

“Me. My shadow,” he shivered, starting to try and pull away from Sting only to be held firmly in place by the other slayer. It wasn’t until then Rogue realized how tired he felt – like his magic had been almost all used up. “I….did I hurt you?”

“Come on, this is me we’re talking about – I’m fine,” he forced himself to grin at the other dragon slayer as if he didn’t understand the seriousness of what just happened. Gently he picked up the man and started to carry him to the room across the hall. “Your bedroom not so much. There _are_ easier ways to ask to officially move in with me though, you know?”

Their guild mates had crowded into the hallway once the magic had vanished, concerned for their twin slayers. Sting decided to ignore them – taking care of Rogue was more important even though it seemed that the other was calming down now.

“This wasn’t on purpose,” Rogue muttered as he tried to escape. He didn’t want Sting treating him like he was helpless, not where others could see.

“I know,” he smiled, kissing the top of his head before he closed the door on their guild mate’s worried and curious stares. He knew that they’d be able to tell that the magic from earlier was Rogue’s going out of control, he didn’t want them pestering his mate about it just yet.

He let him down onto the bed they shared and took one of Rogue’s favorite blankets and wrapped it around his shoulders before sitting next to him. “That thing was what took you over when you fought Gajeel in Crocus wasn’t it?”

Rogue was quiet for a long time, debating if he would tell the truth or not before he nodded.

He’d debated lying but Sting wasn’t an idiot – far from it actually. That he acted the fool was as large in part due to his happy nature as the fact that it allowed him to be approachable and to break down the barriers that his previous attitude had created between him and the world that wasn’t Lector or Rogue.

“That wasn’t the first time that you’ve been attacked by that kind of shadow was it?”

This time he shook his head ‘no’, “They used to just tell me things, and I could ignore them, mostly.”

He wrapped his arm around Rogue and pulled him close to his side. “How long has this been happening to you?”

Guilt twisted around the shadow slayer’s gut – he knew that there was an unspoken question in that as well ‘why didn’t you tell me?’ He was quiet before he said softly: “Since I – since Skiadrum died,” he said quietly. “Always telling me how I was evil and how I was full of darkness…”

“You’re not,” Sting’s voice was sharp, and made Rogue’s eyes jerk up to his face in surprise. The blond sighed softly and kissed him, “You’re not evil, Rogue. There’s no way that you’ll lose out to the shadows.”

“I _killed_ you.”

 “That’s not going to happen, Rogue,” his voice firm still. “I’m not going to let you become like him, we’re going to find a way to get rid of your shadows. Together, okay? Until then, I’ll protect you. That’s my job, you know?”

“…it’s my job to protect you too, Sting. I-“

“Stop,” he rumbled, cutting him off as he stared at him. “We will figure this out, but for now you need to rest. You used up a lot of magic, if you don’t sleep soon you’re going to get sick.”

“I…” Rogue hesitated.

“I’m not going anywhere, I’ll stay right here and drive them off if they come back again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, as an American my country is giving more more than enough angst today so I'm going to go back to finding ways to avoid the real world.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Remember to let me know what you think, and constructive criticism is always welcome.


	10. Chapter 10

For two days after he’d lost control of his power Rogue slept fitfully, the toll that the amount of magic he had released in such an uncontrolled manner exhausting him. The only time he seemed calm was when Frosch or Sting was curled up with him so the pair spent most the time in bed with him.

The blond sitting cross legged on the bed with one hand draped over Rogue’s shoulder while he slept, tracing circles or squares or triangles unthinkingly with his fingertips while he filled out the paperwork that Yuki or Rufus brought up to him.

No one was foolish enough to think that the young dragon was going to leave his mate’s side when things were like this – and no one was stupid enough to try and make him. Instead the guild focused on making sure their Master could get his work done at the same time and on making sure that he and Frosch were eating properly.

“You look like crap,” Rogue murmured, having been watching Sting quietly – the white dragon slayer unaware that he’d woken up. “You put the wrong name down there. I’m still Rogue _Cheney_.”

“Still?” Sting smirked, setting his pen down, a sparkle in his eye. As much as he didn’t appreciate the comments on his looks – whose fault was it he was worrying anyways?! – he was relieved that Rogue seemed to be awake and feeling better now. “That mean one day it _will_ be ‘Rogue Eucliffe’?”

“Maybe,” he smirked, sitting up. “If you’re very lucky.”

“Well, I got you to fall in love with me so I guess I have been so far,” Sting gave him a kiss. “You hungry?”

He nodded, “Ravenous…but…”

“I’ll bring something up,” he smiled kissing his forehead – twice – before he slipped off the bed. He didn’t think that his mate would be up to seeing anyone right after waking up, and they still needed to talk about what had happened properly. Getting him fed was most important.

He shifted his position so he was propped up against the pillows, sitting upright. Glancing over the paperwork that Sting had been doing, reporting about the attack of unknown origin on the Sabertooth guild hall.

Crimson eyes scanning the page curiously – this was an official report to the council – apparently the shadowy substance had been seen from outside the guild hall and caused citizens to worry. Apparently an attacker had intruded on the guild hall for unknown reasons and as a result of a spell cast by them when he confronted them Rogue Eucliffe had been knocked unconscious resulting in one of his attacks going awry but being ultimately harmless. As no one had seen the intruder’s face he was reasoning it was a particularly bold thief but they didn’t expect any further trouble.

Blatant lies.

Not to mention the instance of writing ‘Eucliffe’ that he had pointed out to Sting wasn’t the only one that happened. At least he could rest assured that Rufus or Yukino (who had better handwriting _and_ spelling) would rewrite this for Sting once he finished composing it.

Rogue stifled a sigh – it wasn’t as if he didn’t know why Sting was lying to the council. Thanks to three of Fairy Tail’s dragon slayers and their penchant for trouble making, not to mention the fact that he’d once been associated if not a member of Phantom Lord meant that even after all this time as Sting’s shadow he could be viewed with an over critical eye. If the council knew he was losing control they’d lock him up even without knowing anything about the future Rogue.

“You just woke up, let me do the fretting,” Sting scolded him as he came in and set a tray of food in Rogue’s lap. “Yuki wanted me to tell you that if you eat everything she’ll make you a chocolate cake later.”

“I don’t need to be bribed into eating properly,” he huffed, beginning to eat slowly but steadily so he wouldn’t upset his stomach.

Sting settled back into the bed next to him, watching him eat until he was sure that Rogue wasn’t just feigning his appetite. “Why is your own magic attacking you?”

Rogue froze at the sudden question. Quietly, he looked down and shook his head, “I don’t know. Skiadrum never said anything about it, I thought I was just supposed to be strong enough to keep it at bay on my own.”

“Forever?” Sting’s eyes widened at the ridiculousness of the idea, but anything else he had to say died in his throat as he saw the expression that his mate was wearing as he stared downwards, watching a world that the blond couldn’t see.

He could see the pain written across Rogue’s face at the confession – he felt _guilty_ because this was happening to him, and was blaming himself for not being strong enough. He’d held off his own magic trying to take over him for _fifteen years_ and he thought he was weak because he was starting to lose the fight now?

Most adult mages didn’t last six months if their magic rebelled against them, let alone outright attacked them! He’d held it off for that long starting as a kid completely alone in the world. Not only that but he’d become one of the strongest mages in Fiore while doing it.

Sting couldn’t help feeling a little overwhelmed at the kind of strength his beloved Rogue had. He’d always thought he had to be the stronger one and protect him. That wasn’t the case at all.

“Oh fuck,” he muttered – fairly certain he’d just fallen more in love with his shadow dragon. Leaning his head back so it banged against their headboard, blue eyes staring at the ceiling. “Rogue, you’re an idiot. I love you, but you _are._ ”

“The hell does that mean?” Rogue snapped, clearly not appreciating being called an idiot.

“We’re partners, more than that now,” Sting flashed him a smile, leaning over to kiss him because being the idiot that he was he couldn’t resist that ticked off expression. He was half expecting to get punched for the action as he whispered against his lips, leaning his forehead against Rogue’s, and staring into those crimson depths: “You don’t have to fight this alone anymore. Let me help.”

“I-” he began to protest only to be cut off by another, more forceful kiss by Sting. When his lips were finally free again he was panting slightly but he smiled, laughing softly as he leaned forward, pressing his head into Sting’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to say that,” he wrapped his arms around him tight and pulled him into his lap, ignoring the action knocked the tray of now-empty dishes off the bed with a loud clatter.

It surprised him when Rogue didn’t turn to look at it, or complain about him being clumsy, keeping his face hidden. It wasn’t until a drop landed on his exposed abs he realized Rogue was crying again and he wrapped his arms around his shadow dragon, holding him close.

 

* * *

 

 

The memory make mage’s fingers were drumming on the table, his dark green eyes narrowed as he observed the twin dragons. They’d approached him to discuss if he’d ever read about such a situation. Considering what they had told him he wanted to take a little more time than usual to contemplate the matter.

“The cacophony of power you showed the other day…” he finally spoke, “Is unlike anything I can recall. I am sorry, Rogue.”

Sting groaned, slumping in his chair. “If you don’t know anything I bet it’s never been written about before,” he whined.

The longer haired blond laughed into his hand, and shook his head, “Forgive me, there _are_ books that I have never had the chance to read. When Orga and I return I will see what I can learn.”

“Thank you,” Rogue nodded to him before their red clad guild mate stood and headed over to the bar to chat with the resident god slayer.

The shadow dragon slayer made a note of what job they were taking in the ledger that Sting was supposed to be filling out before addressing his mate: “I think in the mean time I will go back to Magnolia. There’s a healer who lives near there who might know something, I want to talk to her.”

“What?” Sting stared. “You can’t go yet, it’ll be at least a week until I can leave the guild for a long time again.”

“Frosch and I will be alright on our own for three days.”

“But what if-“

Rogue met his eyes and smiled, the confident one he wore before a fight or when he was teasing Sting, “I have something I refuse to lose. I will be alright, just trust me, okay?”

Blue eyes stared at him before Sting blushed despite himself - he was way too sexy with that expression. “I told you we'd do this together. How am I supposed to demand you wait if you’re going to put it that way?”

Rogue leaned over and kissed him. “You can’t. Plus, maybe you’ll actually do your work as master for a change.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya! Thanks for reading! :)  
> Remember, kudos are loved and comments positively adored! Let me know what ya'll think!

**Author's Note:**

> So, this work is currently on hiatus/abandoned because of my inability to plan. I don't actually know where I would go with it as "How Rogue fixes/learns to manage his problem" was never thought thoroughly out and I can't write a story where magic just cures that stuff (as was the original intention) because mental illness is HARD and a bitch and I am at a point with mine where I just can't write something like that.  
> Added to that, currently my attention's been completely absorbed by other fandoms (Dragon Age and Star Wars the Old Republic.) and so I've not been interested in writing with the Fairy Tail characters.
> 
> My apologies to anyone who has been reading and waiting for an update. I currently have no intention of returning to finish this. That may change in the future but there is no guarantee.


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